October is Breast Cancer awareness month, and the volleyball team is doing their best to show their support. The team is partnering with the Side Out Foundation to host the first annual Stone Bridge “Dig Pink” match to raise money and ‘Play for a Cure’.
Dig Pink is a Breast Cancer Awareness Rally being held all of October to raise awareness and money for the cause. Overall, the foundation’s goal is to raise $1 million for Breast Cancer research.
“Every year we want to make a statement by holding hundreds, potentially thousands, of featured High School and College matches across the country to help educate and raise funds to eradicate this terrible disease,” The Side Out Foundation says on their website.
The match will take place Monday, October 5 in the main gym against the Westfield Bulldogs.
“‘Dig Pink’ has been getting bigger and bigger each year,” Varsity Head Coach Jill Raschiatore said. “Last spring Ms. Colby brought it up, and so we started to look into it. Teams in our district played last year.”
Both teams are supporting Breast Cancer, and Stone Bridge will be wearing special pink jerseys ordered just for the match.
“I’m excited to wear the pink jerseys because this will be the only time we get to wear them during one of our games,” Chism said.
Westfield is also participating by wearing pink socks and pink ribbons in their hair to show their support.
“We had to find a team that would take part in the match,” Raschiatore said. “Westfield hosted a match last year, and they agreed to come here to play with us.
“Most of the Virginia high schools have taken part in the past, and we wanted to be a part of it this year,” senior Alexis Chism said.
The match not only helps raise money and awareness, but is also beneficial for the volleyball team’s morale as well.
“It definitely means more because we’re playing for a good cause,” freshman Ryan Ackermann said. “There’s going to be a lot of fans there supporting us, so we’re pumped for that too.”
Holding the “Dig Pink” match is special not only for awareness and fundraising, but also helps pay tribute to those women who have had Breast Cancer themselves, or who have been affected by the disease.
“Someone very special to me has Breast Cancer, so this game and the cause means a lot to me,” senior Zipporah Francis said.
Other teammates also realize the importance of making a difference, and how the “Dig Pink” match can do that.
“It’s nice to be a part of something bigger than just winning,” junior Jenny Lewandrowski said. “We’re reaching out to the community; we’re not only playing volleyball but making the world a better place.”
The pink t-shirts will be on sale during all lunch shifts this week for $10 and all proceeds will go to breast cancer awareness.
The team’s goal is to raise $2,000 through donations and t-shirt sales. Donations can be made at
https://www.side-out.org/application/teams/team_page/1510.
